Fr

ee

QGIS is the leading alternative to proprietary GIS

software. Although QGIS is described as intuitive, it is
also, by default, complex. Knowing which tools to use
and how to apply them is essential to producing valuable
deliverables on time.

If you are a GIS professional, a consultant, a student,

or perhaps a fast learner who wants to go beyond the
basics of QGIS, then this book is for you. It will prepare
you to realize the full potential of QGIS.

Learn advanced techniques to style

GIS data

Understand how to work with the

Processing Toolbox
Edit and repair topological data errors
Automate workflows with batch processing
and the QGIS Graphical Modeler
Integrate Python scripting into your data
processing workflows
Develop your own QGIS plugin

$ 49.99 US
32.99 UK

community experience distilled

P U B L I S H I N G

pl

Prepare both vector and raster data

for processing

Prices do not include

local sales tax or VAT
where applicable

Visit www.PacktPub.com for books, eBooks,

code, downloads, and PacktLib.

Dr. Richard Smith Jr., GISP

Dr. John Van Hoesen, GISP

Who this book is written for

Create and manage a spatial database

Kurt Menke, GISP

Dr. Luigi Pirelli

Starting with a refresher on QGIS basics, this book

will take you all the way through to creating your first
custom QGIS plugin. By the end of the book, you will
understand how to work with all the aspects of QGIS,
and will be ready to use it for any type of GIS work. From
the refresher, you will learn how to create, populate, and
manage a spatial database and walk through styling GIS
data, from creating custom symbols and color ramps to
using blending modes. In the next section, you will
discover how to prepare vector and raster data for
processing and discover advanced data creation and
editing techniques. The last third of the book covers more
technical aspects of QGIS, including working with the
Processing Toolbox, how to automate workflows with batch
processing, and how to create graphical models. Finally,
you will learn how to create and run Python data processing
scripts and write your own QGIS plugin with pyqgis.

What you will learn from this book

Mastering QGIS

Mastering QGIS

Sa
m

C o m m u n i t y

E x p e r i e n c e

D i s t i l l e d

Mastering QGIS
Go beyond the basics and unleash the full power of QGIS with
practical, step-by-step examples
Foreword by Phillip Davis,
Director, National Information Security & Geospatial Technology Consortium

Kurt Menke, GISP

Dr. Richard Smith Jr., GISP

Dr. Luigi Pirelli

Dr. John Van Hoesen, GISP

In this package, you will find:

The authors biography

A preview chapter from the book, Chapter 1 'A Refreshing Look at QGIS'
A synopsis of the books content
More information on Mastering QGIS

About the Authors

Kurt Menke, a certified GIS Professional (GISP), has been working in the GIS field
since 1997. Prior to this, he worked as a professional archaeologist for 10 years in the
American Southwest. He earned a master's degree (MA) in geography from the
University of New Mexico in 2000. That same year, he founded Bird's Eye View
(www.BirdsEyeViewGIS.com) to apply his expertise with the GIS technology to the
world's mounting ecological and social problems. Toward this end, Mr. Menke's work
focuses largely on wildlife conservation and public health. His specialties are spatial
analysis, modeling, and cartography.
He is a longtime advocate of FOSS4G. He began writing MapServer applications in 2001
and has been using QGIS since 2007. He is one of the coauthors of the curriculum at the
FOSS4G Academy (http://foss4geo.org/) and has been teaching FOSS4G
college courses since 2009. In 2014, Kurt began authoring an award-winning blog on
FOSS4G technologies and their use in community health mapping
(http://communityhealthmaps.nlm.nih.gov/).
Dr. Richard Smith Jr., is an assistant professor of geographic information science at the
School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at Texas A&M University Corpus
Christi. He has a PhD in geography from the University of Georgia and holds a master of
science in computer science and a bachelor of science in geographic information science
degree from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi. Richard actively does research in
cartography, systems integration, and the use of geospatial technology for disaster
response. Richard is an advocate of FOSS4G and building FOSS4G curriculum. He is
one of the coauthors of the FOSS4G Academy (http://foss4geo.org).
Richard has collaborated with other writers in his field, but Mastering QGIS
is his first book.

Dr. Luigi Pirelli is a freelance software analyst and developer with an honors degree in
computer science from the University of Bari. He worked for 15 years in Satellite Ground
Segment and Direct Ingestion for the European Space Agency. Since 2006, he has been
involved with the GFOSS world, contributing to QGIS, GRASS, and MapServer core
and developing and maintaining many QGIS plugins. He actively participates in QGIS
Hackmeetings. He is the founder of the OSGEO Italian Local Chapter
(http://gfoss.it/drupal/) and now lives in Spain and contributes to this
GFOSS community. During the last few years, he started teaching PyQGIS by
organizing trainings from basic to advanced levels and supporting companies
to develop their specific QGIS plugins.
He is the founder of the local hackerspace group Bricolabs.cc that is focused on Open
Hardware. He likes cycling, repairing everything, and trainings groups on conflict
resolution. Besides this book, he has also contributed to Lonely Planet Cycling Italy.
Dr. John Van Hoesen is an associate professor of geology and environmental studies at
Green Mountain College in rural west-central Vermont. He earned an MS in 2000 and a
PhD in geology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 2003. He is a certified GIS
Professional (GISP) with a broad background in geosciences and has been using some
flavor of GIS to evaluate and explore geologic processes and environmental issues since
1997. He has used and taught some variant of FOSS GIS since 2003, and over the last 3
years, he has taught graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education courses using
only FOSS GIS software.

Mastering QGIS
Welcome to Mastering QGIS. The goal of this book is to help intermediate and advanced
users of GIS develop a deep understanding of the capabilities of QGIS while building the
technical skills that would facilitate in making the shift from a proprietary GIS software
package to QGIS.
QGIS embodies the open source community's spirit. It seamlessly works with other free
and open source geospatial software, such as SAGA, GDAL, GRASS, and fTools, and
supports standards and formats that are published by myriad organizations. QGIS is about
freedom in the geospatial world: freedom to choose your operating system, freedom from
licensing fees, freedom to customize, freedom to look under the hood, and freedom
to contribute to the development of QGIS. As you work through this book, we believe
that you will be amazed at how much capability and freedom QGIS provides.
QGIS has rapidly risen from the initial version written by Gary Sherman in 2002 to
become a globally used and developed volunteer-led project. In 2009, QGIS version 1.0
was released as an Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) project and continues
to be rapidly adopted worldwide. The enduring support of the open source community
has really delivered QGIS to a point where it is now a top-shelf product that should
be in all GIS users' toolboxes, and we want this book to be your tour guide and
reference as you learn, use, and contribute to QGIS.

What This Book Covers

Chapter 1, A Refreshing Look at QGIS, reviews the installation and basic functionality
of QGIS that will be the assumed knowledge for the remainder of the book.
Chapter 2, Creating Spatial Databases, covers how to create and edit spatial databases
using QGIS. While QGIS supports many spatial databases, SpatiaLite will be used in
this chapter. First, core database concepts will be covered, followed by the creation
of a spatial database. Next, importing, exporting, and editing data will be covered.
The chapter will conclude with queries and view creation.
Chapter 3, Styling Raster and Vector Data, covers styling raster and vector data for
display. First, color selection and color ramp management are covered. Next, singleband
and multiband raster data are styled using custom color ramps and blending modes.
Next, complex vector styles and vector layer rendering are covered. Rounding out
the chapter is the use of diagrams to display thematic map data.

Chapter 4, Preparing Vector Data for Processing, covers techniques useful for turning
raw vector data into a more usable form. The chapter will start with data massaging and
modification techniques such as merging, creating indices, checking for geometry errors,
and basic geoprocessing tools. Next, advanced field calculations will be covered,
followed by complex spatial and aspatial queries. The chapter will end by defining new
or editing existing coordinate reference systems.
Chapter 5, Preparing Raster Data for Processing, covers the preparation of raster
data for further processing using the GDAL menu tools and the Processing Toolbox
algorithms. Specifically, these include reclassification, resampling, rescaling,
mosaics, generating pyramids, and interpolation. The chapter will conclude
by converting raster to vector.
Chapter 6, Advanced Data Creation and Editing, provides advanced ways to create
vector data. As there is a great deal of data in tabular format, this chapter will cover
mapping coordinates and addresses from tables. Next, georeferencing of imagery
into a target coordinate reference system will be covered. The final portion of the
chapter will cover testing topological relationships in vector data and correcting
any errors via topological editing.
Chapter 7, The Processing Toolbox, begins with an explanation and exploration
of the QGIS Processing Toolbox. Various algorithms and tools, available in the toolbox,
will be used to complete common spatial analyses and geoprocessing tasks for both raster
and vector formats. To illustrate how these processing tools might be applied to realworld questions, two hypothetical scenarios are illustrated by relying heavily on
GRASS and SAGA tools.
Chapter 8, Automating Workflows with the Graphical Modeler, covers the purpose
and use of the graphical modeler to automate analysis workflows. In the chapter,
you will develop an automated tool/model that can be added to the Processing Toolbox.
Chapter 9, Creating QGIS Plugins with PyQGIS and Problem Solving, covers the
foundational information to create a Python plugin for QGIS. Information about the
API and PyQGIS help will be covered first, followed by an introduction to the iface and
QGis classes. Next, the steps required to create and structure a plugin will be covered.
The chapter will be wrapped up after providing you with information on creating
graphical user interfaces and setting up debugging environments to debug code easily.
Chapter 10, PyQGIS Scripting, provides topics for integrating Python analysis
scripts with QGIS outside of the Processing Toolbox. Layer loading and management
are first covered, followed by an exploration of the vector data structure. Next,
programmatic launching of other tools and external programs are covered. Lastly,
the QGIS map canvas is covered with respect to how a script can interact
with the map canvas and layers within.

A Refreshing Look at QGIS

QGIS is a volunteer-led development project licensed under the GNU General Public
License. It was started by Gary Sherman in 2002. The project was incubated with the
Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) in 2007. Version 1.0 was released
in 2009. At the time of writing this book, QGIS 2.6 was the stable version and new
versions are released every four months.
In this chapter we will review the basic functionality of QGIS, which will be assumed
knowledge for the remaining chapters in this book. If you need a refresher on QGIS
or a quick-start guide to QGIS, you should read this chapter. The topics we will cover
in this chapter are as follows:

Downloading QGIS and its installation

The QGIS graphical user interface

Loading data

Working with coordinate reference systems

Working with tables

Editing data

Styling data

Composing a map

Finding and installing plugins

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A Refreshing Look at QGIS

QGIS download and installation

QGIS can be installed on Windows, Mac OS X, Unix, Linux, and Android operating
systems, making it a very flexible software package. Both the binary installers and
source code can be downloaded from download.qgis.org. In this section, we will
briefly cover how to install QGIS on Windows, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu Linux. For
the most up-to-date installation instructions, refer to the QGIS website.

Installing QGIS on Windows

For Windows, there are two installation options, which are as follows:

QGIS Standalone Installer: The standalone installer installs the binary

version of QGIS and the Geographic Resource Analysis Support System
(GRASS) using a standard Windows installation tool. You should choose
this option if you want an easy installation experience of QGIS.
OSGeo4W Network Installer: This provides you with the opportunity
to download either the binary or source code version of QGIS, as well as
experimental releases of QGIS. Additionally, the OSGeo4W installer allows
you to install other open source tools and their dependencies.

Installing QGIS on Mac OS X

To install QGIS on Mac OS X, the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL)
framework and matplotlib Python module must be installed first, followed by the
QGIS installation. The installation files for GDAL, matplotlib, and QGIS are available
at http://www.kyngchaos.com/software/qgis.

Installing QGIS on Ubuntu Linux

There are two options when installing QGIS on Ubuntu: installing QGIS only, or
installing QGIS as well as other FOSSGIS packages. Either of these methods requires
the use of the command line, sudo rights, and the apt-get package manager.

Installing QGIS only

Depending on whether you want to install a stable release or an experimental release,
you will need to add the appropriate repository to the /etc/apt/sources.list file.
With sudo access, edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following line to install
the current stable release or current release's source code respectively:
deb

http://qgis.org/debian trusty main

deb-src

http://qgis.org.debian trusty main

[2]

Chapter 1

Depending on the release version of Ubuntu you are using, you will need to specify
the release name as trusty, saucy, or precise. For the latest list of QGIS releases for
Ubuntu versions, visit download.qgis.org.
With the appropriate repository added, you can proceed with the QGIS installation
by running the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install qgis python-qgis

To install the GRASS plugin (recommended), install the optional package by running
this command:
sudo apt-get install qgis-plugin-grass

Installing QGIS and other FOSSGIS Packages

The ubuntugis project installs QGIS and other FOSSGIS packages, such as GRASS
on Ubuntu. To install the ubuntugis package, remove the http://qgis.org/debian
lines from the /etc/apt/sources.list file, and run the following commands:
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install qgis python-qgis qgis-plugin-grass

QGIS is also available for Android. We have not provided

detailed installation instructions because it is in alpha testing
at the moment. However, there are plans to have a normalized
installation process in a future release. You can find more
information about this at http://hub.qgis.org/projects/
android-qgis.
The download page is available at http://qgis.org/
downloads/android/.
A related app has recently been announced and it is named
QField for QGIS. For a short time, it was named QGIS Mobile.
It is described as a field data capture and management app that
is compatible with QGIS. At the time of writing this, it was in
invite-only alpha testing. It is eventually expected to be available
in the Android Play Store. You can find more information on this
app at http://www.opengis.ch/tech-blog/.

[3]

A Refreshing Look at QGIS

Tour of QGIS
QGIS is composed of two programs: QGIS Desktop and QGIS Browser. Desktop
is used for managing, displaying, analyzing, and styling data. Browser is used to
manage and preview data. This section will give you a brief tour of the graphical
user interface components of both QGIS Desktop and QGIS Browser.

QGIS Desktop
The QGIS interface is divided into four interface types: menu bar, toolbars, panels,
and map display. The following screenshot shows QGIS Desktop with all four
interface types displayed:

The map display shows the styled data added to the QGIS project and, by default,
takes up the majority of the space in QGIS Desktop. The menu bar, displayed
across the top, provides access to most of QGIS Desktop's functionality. The
toolbars provide quick access to QGIS Desktop functionality. The toolbars can
be arranged to either float independently or dock at the top, bottom, left, or right
sides of the application. The panels, such as Browser and Layers, provide a variety
of functionality and can be arranged to either float independently or dock above,
below, right, or left of the map display.
[4]

Chapter 1

There are four toolbars that are particularly useful, and it is recommended that you
enable them:

The File toolbar provides quick access to create, open, and save QGIS projects
and create and manage print composers

The Manage Layers toolbar contains tools to add vector, raster, database,
web service, text layers, and create new layers

The Map Navigation toolbar contains tools that are useful for panning,
zooming, and refreshing the map display

The Attributes toolbar provides access to information, selection, field

calculator, measuring, bookmarking, and annotation tools

QGIS Desktop offers a number of customization options. You can toggle the visibility
of toolbars by navigating to View | Toolbars, or by right-clicking on the menu bar or
the enabled toolbar button, which will open a context menu allowing you to toggle the
toolbar and panel visibility. You can assign shortcut keys to operations by navigating
to Settings | Configure shortcuts. You can also change application options, such as
interface language and rendering options by navigating to Settings | Options.

QGIS Browser
The QGIS Browser interface (shown in the following screenshot) is composed of
three parts: toolbar, data tree view, and information panel.

[5]

A Refreshing Look at QGIS

The data tree view is an expandable tree listing of all geospatial data files on your
computer and through connections. The information display, which takes most of
the space on the application, contains four tabs that provide different views of the
selected data in the data tree listing, and they are as follows:

Param: This tab displays details of data that is accessed through connections,
such as a database or WMS.

Metadata: This tab displays the metadata (if any) of the selected data.

Preview: This tab renders the selected data. You can zoom into the data
using your mouse wheel and pan using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Attribute: This tab displays the attribute table associated with the selected
data. You can sort the columns by clicking on the column headings.

The toolbar provides access to four functions. The Refresh function reloads the data
tree view while the Manage WMS function opens the WMS management screen
allowing you to manage the WMS connections. The New Shapefile function opens
the new vector layer dialog allowing new shapefiles to be created. Finally, the Set
layer CRS function allows you to define the coordinate reference system of the
geospatial data file that is selected in the data tree view.

Loading data
One strength of QGIS is its ability to load a large number of data types. In this
section, we will cover loading various types of data into QGIS Desktop.
In general, data can be loaded in four ways. The first way, which will be covered
in detail in this section, is to use the Add Layer menu under Layer and select the
appropriate type of data that you wish to load. The second way is to open the
Browser panel, navigate to the data you wish to load, and then drag the data onto
the map display or onto the Layers panel. The third way to load data is to enable the
Manage Layers toolbar and click on the button representing the data type that you
wish to load. The fourth way is to locate the data in QGIS Browser, drag the data,
and drop it onto the QGIS Desktop map display or the Layers panel.

Loading vector data

To load vector files, click on Add Vector Layer by navigating to Layer | Add Layer.
This will open the Add Vector Layer dialog that will allow us to choose the source
type and source of the dataset that we wish to load.

[6]

Chapter 1

The source type contains four options: File, Directory, Database, and Protocol.
When you choose a source type, the source interface will change to display the
appropriate options. Let's take a moment to discuss what type of data these four
source types can load:

File: This can load flat files that are stored on disk. The commonly used flat
file types are as follows:

ESRI shapefile (.shp)

AutoCAD DXF (.dxf)
Comma separated values (.csv)
GPS eXchange Format (.gpx)
Keyhole Markup Language (.kml)
SQLite/SpatiaLite (.sqlite/.db)

Directory: This can load data stored on disk that is encased in a directory.
The commonly used directory types are as follows:

U.S. Census TIGER/Line

Arc/Info Binary Coverage

Database: This can load databases that are stored on disk or those
available through service connections. The commonly used database
types are as follows:

ODBC

ESRI Personal GeoDatabase

MSSQL

MySQL

PostgreSQL

Protocol: This can load protocols that are available at a specific URI. QGIS
currently supports loading the GeoJSON protocol.

Loading raster data

To load raster data into QGIS, click on Add Raster Layer by navigating to
Layer | Add Layer. This will open a file browser window and allow you to choose
a GDAL-supported raster file. The commonly used raster types supported by GDAL
are as follows:

ArcInfo ASCII Grid (.asc)

Erdas Imagine (.img)

[7]

A Refreshing Look at QGIS

GeoTIFF (.tif/.tiff)

JPEG/JPEG-2000 (.jpg or .jpeg/.jp2 or .j2k)

Portable Network Graphics (.png)

Rasterlite (.sqlite)

USGS Optional ASCII DEM (.dem)

To add an Oracle GeoRaster, click on Add Oracle GeoRaster Layer by navigating

to Layer | Add Layer, then connect to an Oracle database to load the raster. More
information about loading database layers is in the following section.
The Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) is a free and
open source library that translates and processes vector and raster
geospatial data formats. QGIS, as well as many other programs,
use GDAL to handle many geospatial data processing tasks.
You may see references to OGR or GDAL/OGR as you work with
QGIS and GDAL. OGR is short for OGR Simple Features Library
and references the vector processing parts of GDAL. OGR is not
really a standalone project, as it is part of the GDAL code now;
however, for historical reasons, OGR is still used.
More information about GDAL and OGR can be found at
http://gdal.org. GDAL is an Open Source Geospatial
Foundation (http://osgeo.org) project.

Loading databases
QGIS supports PostGIS, SpatiaLite, MSSQL, and Oracle databases. Regardless of the
type of database you wish to load, the loading sequence is very similar. Therefore,
instead of covering specific examples, the general sequence will be covered.
First, click on Add Layer under Layer and then choose the database type you wish to
load. This will open a window with options for adding the data stored in a database.
As an example, the following screenshot shows the window that opens when you
navigate to Layer | Add Layer | Add SpatiaLite Layer:

[8]

Chapter 1

Note that the window will look the same for any database
you choose, except for the window name.

To load data from a database, we must first create a connection to the database. To
create a new connection, click on the New button to open a connection information
window. Depending on the database type you are connecting to, different connection
options will be shown. Once you have created a database connection, select it from
the drop-down list and click on Connect; you will see a list of all layers contained
within the database display. If there are a large number of tables, you can select
Search options and perform a search on the database. To load a layer, select it in the
list and click on Add. If you only wish to load a portion of the layer, select the layer
and then click on Set Filter to open the query builder. If you set a query and then
add the layer, only the filtered features will be added.

Web services
QGIS supports the loading of OGC-compliant web services such as WMS/WMTS,
WCS, and WFS. Loading a web service is similar to loading a database service. In
general, you will create a new server connection, connect to the server to list the
available services, and add the service to the QGIS project.
[9]

A Refreshing Look at QGIS

Working with coordinate reference

systems
When working with spatial data, it is important that a coordinate reference system
(CRS) is assigned to the data and the QGIS project. To view the CRS for the QGIS
project, click on Project Properties under Project and choose the CRS tab.
It is recommended that all data added to a QGIS project be projected into the same
CRS as the QGIS project. However, if this is not possible or convenient, QGIS can
project layers "on the fly" to the project's CRS.
If you want to quickly search for a CRS, you can enter the EPSG
code to quickly filter through the CRS list. An EPSG code refers
to a specific CRS stored in the EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset
online registry that contains numerous global, regional, and
local CRS. An example of a commonly used EPSG code is 4326
that refers to WGS 84. The EPSG online registry is available at
http://www.epsg-registry.org/.

To enable the "on the fly" projection, perform the following steps:
1. Click on Project Properties under Project.
2. Choose the CRS tab and Enable 'on the fly' CRS transformation.
3. Set the CRS that you wish to apply to the project and make all layers that are
not set to the project's CRS transform "on the fly".
To view the CRS for a layer, perform the following steps:
1. Open the layer's properties by either navigating to Layer | Properties or by
right-clicking on the layer in the Layers panel.
2. Choose Properties from the context menu and then choose the General tab.
3. If the layer's CRS is not set or is incorrect, click on Specify to open the CRS
selector window and select the correct CRS.
To project a layer to a different CRS, perform the following steps:
1. Right-click on the layer in the Layers panel and then choose Save As from
the context menu.
2. In the Save vector layer as dialog, set the file format and filename, then set
CRS to Selected CRS and click on Change to set the target CRS, and save
the file.

[ 10 ]

Chapter 1

To create a new CRS or modify an existing CRS, perform the following steps:
1. Click on Custom CRS under Settings to open the Custom Coordinate
Reference System Definition window.
2. Click on the Add new CRS button to add a new entry to the CRS list.
3. With the new CRS selected, we can set the name and parameters of the CRS.
The CRS properties are set using the Proj.4 format. To modify an existing
CRS, click on Copy existing CRS and select the CRS from which you wish to
copy parameters; otherwise, enter the parameters manually.
Proj.4 is another Open Source Geospatial Foundation (http://
osgeo.org) project used by QGIS, and it is similar to OGR and
GDAL. This project is for managing coordinate systems and
projections. For a detailed user manual for the Proj.4 format
used to specify the CRS parameters in QGIS, download it from
ftp://ftp.remotesensing.org/proj/OF90-284.pdf.

Working with tables

There are two types of tables you can work with in QGIS: attribute tables and
standalone tables. Whether they are from a database or associated with a shapefile
or a flat file, they are all treated the same. Standalone tables can be added by clicking
on the Add Vector Layer menu by navigating to Layer | Add Layer. QGIS supports
the table formats supported by OGR along with database tables. Tables are treated
like any other GIS layer; they simply have no geometry. Both types of tables can be
opened within Desktop by selecting the layer/table in the Layers panel, and then by
either clicking on Open Attribute Table under Layer or by right-clicking on the data
layer, and choosing Open Attribute Table from the context menu. They can also be
previewed in Browser by choosing the Attribute tab.
The table opens in a new window that displays the number of table rows and selected
records in the title bar. Below the title bar are a series of buttons that allow you to
toggle between editing, managing selections, and adding and deleting columns. Most
of the window is filled with the table body. The table can be sorted by clicking on
the column names. An arrow will appear in the column header, indicating either an
ascending or a descending sort. Rows can be selected by clicking on the row number
on the left-hand side. In the lower-left corner is a Tables menu that allows you to
manage what portions of the table should be displayed. You can choose Show All
Features (default setting), Show Selected Features, Show Features Visible on Map
(only available when you view an attribute table), Show Edited and New Features,
create column filters, and advanced filters (expression). The lower-right corner has a
toggle between the default table view and a forms view of the table.
[ 11 ]

A Refreshing Look at QGIS

Attribute tables are associated with the features of a GIS

layer. Typically, one record in the attribute table corresponds
to one feature in the GIS layer. The exception to this is
multipart features, which have multiple geometries linked
to a single record in the attribute table. Standalone tables are
not associated with GIS data layers. However, they may have
data of a spatial nature from which a spatial data layer can be
generated (for more information, see Chapter 6, Advanced Data
Creation and Editing. They may also contain data that you wish
to join to an existing attribute table with a table join.

Table joins
Let's say that you need to make a map of the total population by county. However,
the counties' GIS layer does not have population as an attribute. Instead, this data is
contained in an Excel spreadsheet. It is possible to join additional tabular data to an
existing attribute table.
There are two requirements, which are as follows:

The two tables need to share fields with attributes to match for joining

There needs to be a cardinality of one-to-one or many-to-one between the

attribute table and the standalone table

To create a join, load both the GIS layer and the standalone table into QGIS
Desktop. QGIS will accept a variety of standalone table file formats including Excel
spreadsheets, .dbf files, and comma delimited text files. You can load this tabular
data using the Add Vector Layer menu by navigating to Layer | Add Layer and
setting the file type filter to All files (*) (*.*) as shown in the following screenshot:

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Once the data is loaded, a join can be completed by following these steps:
1. Select the GIS layer in the Layers panel that will receive the new data from
the join.
2. Navigate to Layer | Properties and choose the Joins menu.
3. Click on the add join button (the one with green plus sign).
4. Choose the Join Layer, Join Field, and Target Field values. The Join Layer
and Join Field values represent the standalone table. The Target Field value
is the column in the attribute table on which the join will be based.
Although in this example the join field and the target field
have the same name, this is not a requirement. The two
fields merely need to hold the same unique ID.

5. At this point, you can choose Cache the join in virtual memory, Create
attribute index on the join field, and Choose which fields are joined. The
last option lets you to choose which fields from the join layer to append to
the attribute table. At this point, the Add vector join window will look like
the following screenshot.
6. Once created, the join will be listed on the Joins tab. The extra attribute
columns from the join layer will be appended to the attribute table, where the
value in the join field matched the value in the target field.
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7. Joins can be removed by clicking on the remove join button (the one with red
minus sign).

Joins only exist in virtual memory within the QGIS Desktop

document. To preserve the join outside the map document click
on Save as... under Layer and save a new copy of the layer. The
new layer will include the attributes appended via the join.

Editing data
Vector data layers can be edited within QGIS Desktop. Editing allows you to add,
delete, and modify features in vector datasets. The first step is to put the dataset into
edit mode. Select the layer in the Layers panel and click on Toggle Editing under
Layer. Alternatively, you can right-click on a layer in the Layers panel and choose
Toggle Editing from the context menu. Multiple layers can be edited at a time. The
layer currently being edited is the one selected in the Layers panel. Once you are in
the edit mode, the digitizing toolbar (shown in the following screenshot) can be used
to add, delete, and modify features.

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From left to right, the tools in the digitizing toolbar are as follows:

The Current Edits tool allows you to manage your editing session. Here, you
can save and rollback edits for one or more selected layers.

The Toggle Editing tool provides an additional means to begin or end an

editing session for a selected layer.

The Save Layer Edits tool allows you to save edits for the selected layer(s)
during an editing session.

The Add Features tool will change to the appropriate geometry depending
on whether a point, line, or polygon layer is selected. Points and vertices of
lines and polygons are created by clicking. To complete a line or polygon
feature, right-click. After adding a feature, you will be prompted to enter
the attributes.

Features can be moved with the Move tool by clicking on them and dragging
them to the new position.

Individual feature vertices can be moved with the Node tool. Click on a
feature once with the tool to select it and the vertices will change into red
boxes. Click again on an individual vertex to select it. The selected vertex
will turn into a dark-blue box. Now, the vertex can be moved to the desired
location. Additionally, edges between vertices can be selected and moved.
To add vertices to a feature, simply double-click on the edge where you want
the vertex to be added. Selected vertices can be deleted by pressing the Delete
key on the keyboard.

Features can be deleted, cut, copied, and pasted using the Delete Selected,
Cut Features, Copy Features, and Paste Features tools.

Snapping
Snapping is an important editing consideration. It is a specified distance (tolerance)
within which vertices of one feature will automatically align with vertices of another
feature. The specific snapping tolerance can be set for the whole project or per layer.
The method for setting the snapping tolerance for a project varies according to the
operating system, which is as follows:

For Windows, navigate to Settings | Options | Digitizing

For Mac, navigate to QGIS | Preferences | Digitizing

For Linux, navigate to Edit | Options | Digitizing

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In addition to setting the snapping tolerance, here the snapping mode can also be set
to vertex, segment, or vertex and segment. Snapping can be set for individual layers
by navigating to Settings | Snapping Options. Individual layer snapping settings
will override those of the project. The following screenshot shows examples of
multiple snapping option choices.

There are many digitizing options that can be set by

navigating to Settings | Options | Digitizing. These include
settings for Feature Creation, Rubberband, Snapping,
Vertex markers, and Curve Offset Tool. There is also an
Advanced Digitizing toolbar which is covered in Chapter 6,
Advanced Data Creation and Editing.

Styling vector data

When you load spatial data layers into QGIS Desktop, they are styled with a random
single symbol rendering. To change this, navigate to Layer | Properties | Style.
There are several rendering choices available from the menu in the top-left corner,
which are as follows:

Single Symbol: This is the default rendering in which one symbol is applied
to all the features in a layer.

Categorized: This allows you to choose a categorical attribute field to style

the layer. Choose the field and click on Classify and QGIS will apply a
different symbol to each unique value in the field. You can also use the Set
column expression button to enhance the styling with a SQL expression.

Graduated: This allows you to classify the data by a numeric field attribute
into discrete categories. You can specify the parameters of the classification
(classification type and number of classes) and use the Set column
expression button to enhance the styling with a SQL expression.
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Chapter 1

Rule-based: This is used to create custom rule-based styling. Rules will be

based on SQL expressions.

Point displacement: If you have a point layer with stacked points, this option
can be used to displace the points so that they are all visible.

Inverted polygons: This is a new renderer that allows a feature polygon to be

converted into a mask. For example, a city boundary polygon that is used with
this renderer would become a mask around the city. It also allows the use of
Categorized, Graduated, and Rule-based renderers and SQL expressions.

The following screenshot shows the Style properties available for a vector data layer:

In the preceding screenshot, the renderer is the layer symbol. For a given symbol,
you can work with the first level, which gives you the ability to change the
transparency and color. You can also click on the second level, which gives you
control over parameters such as fill, border, fill style, border style, join style, border
width, and X/Y offsets. These parameters change depending on the geometry of
your layer. You can also use this hierarchy to build symbol layers, which are styles
built from several symbols that are combined vertically.
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Styling raster data

You also have many choices when styling raster data in QGIS Desktop. There is
a different choice of renderers for raster datasets, which are as follows:

Singleband gray: This allows a singleband raster or a single band of a

multiband raster to be styled with either a black-to-white or white-to-black
color ramp. You can control contrast enhancement and how minimum and
maximum values are determined.

Multiband color: This is for rasters with multiple bands. It allows you to
choose the band combination that you prefer.

Paletted: This is for singleband rasters with an included color table. It is

likely that it will be chosen by QGIS automatically, if this is the case.

Singleband pseudocolor: This allows a singleband raster to be styled with

a variety of color ramps and classification schemes.

The following is a screenshot of the Style tab of a raster file's Layer Properties
showing where the aforementioned style choices are located:

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Contrast enhancement
Another important consideration with raster styling is the settings that are used for
contrast enhancement when rendering the data. Let's start by loading the Jemez_
dem.img image and opening the Style menu under Layer Properties (shown in the
figure below). This is an elevation layer and the data is being stretched on a blackto-white color ramp from the Min and Max values listed under Band rendering. By
default, these values only include those that are from 2 percent to 98 percent of the
estimation of the full range of values in the dataset, and cut out the outlying values.
This makes rendering faster, but it is not necessarily the most accurate.

Next, we will change these settings to get a full stretch across all the data values in
the raster. To do this, perform the following steps:
1. Under the Load min/max section, choose Min / max and under Accuracy,
choose Actual (slower).
2. Click on Load.

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A Refreshing Look at QGIS

3. You will notice that the minimum and maximum values change. Click
on Apply.

Default singleband contrast enhancement (left) and more accurate contrast enhancement (right)

You can specify the default settings for rendering rasters

by navigating to Settings | Options | Rendering. Here,
the defaults for the Contrast enhancement, Load min/max
values, Cumulative count cut thresholds, and the standard
deviation multiplier can be set.

Blending modes
The blending modes allow for more sophisticated rendering between GIS layers.
Historically, these tools have only been available in graphics programs and they
are a fairly new addition to QGIS. Previously, only layer transparency could be
controlled. There are now 13 different blending modes that are available: Normal,
Lighten, Screen, Dodge, Addition, Darken, Multiply, Burn, Overlay, Soft light, Hard
light, Difference, and Subtract. These are much more powerful than simple layer
transparency, which can be effective but typically results in the underneath layer
being washed out or dulled. With blending modes, you can create effects where
the full intensity of the underlying layer is still visible. Blending mode settings
can be found at the bottom of the Style menu under Layer Properties in the Layer
Rendering section along with the Layer transparency slider. They are available for
both vector and raster datasets.
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In this example of using blending modes, we want to show vegetation data (Jemez_
vegetation.tif) in combination with a hillshade image (Jemez_hillshade.img).

Both data sets are loaded and the vegetation data is dragged to the top of the layer
list. Vegetation is then styled with a Singleband pseudocolor renderer; you can do
this by performing the following steps:
1. Choose Random colors.
2. Set Mode to Equal interval.
3. Set the number of Classes to 13.
4. Click on Classify.
5. Click on Apply.
The following screenshot shows what the Style properties should look like after
following the preceding steps.

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At the bottom of the Style menu under Layer Properties, set the Blending mode to
Multiply and the Contrast to 45 and click on Apply. The blending mode allows all
the details of both the datasets to be seen. Experiment with different blending modes
to see how they change the appearance of the image. The following screenshot shows
an example of how blending and contrast settings can work together to make a raster
'pop' off the screen:

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Chapter 1

Composing maps
With QGIS, you can compose maps that can be printed or exported to image and
graphic files. To get started, click on New Print Composer under Project. Give the
new composition a name, click on OK, and the composer window will open.
The composer presents you with a blank sheet of paper upon which you can craft
your map. Along the left-hand side, there are a series of tools on the Composer Items
toolbar. The lower portion of the toolbar contains buttons for adding map elements
to your map. These include the map body, images, text, a legend, a scale bar, graphic
shapes, arrows, attribute tables, and HTML frames. Map elements become graphics
on the composition canvas. By selecting a map element, graphic handles will appear
around the perimeter. These can be used to move and resize the element. The upper
portion of the Composer Items toolbar contains tools for panning the map data,
moving other graphic content, and zooming and panning on the map composition.
The majority of the map customization options can be found in the composer tabs. To
specify the sheet size and orientation, use the Composition tab. Once map elements
have been added to the map, they can be customized with the Item properties tab.
The options available on the Item properties tab change according to the type of
map element that is selected. The Atlas generation tab allows you to generate a map
book. For example, a municipality could generate an atlas by using a map sheet GIS
layer and specifying which attribute column contains the map sheet number for each
polygon. The Items tab allows you to toggle individual map elements on and off.

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A Refreshing Look at QGIS

The toolbars across the top contain tools for aligning graphics (the Composer Item
Actions toolbar), navigating around the map composition (the Paper Navigation
toolbar), and tools for managing, saving, and exporting compositions (the Composer
toolbar). Maps can be exported as images, PDFs, and SVG graphic files. To export
the map, click on the Composer menu and select one from among Export as image...,
Export as SVG..., or Export as PDF... depending on your needs. The following is a
screenshot showing parts of the composer window.

Adding functionality with plugins

There are so many potential workflows, analysis settings, and datasets within the
broad field of GIS that no out-of-the-box software could contain the tools for every
scenario. Fortunately, QGIS has been developed with a plugin architecture. Plugins
are add-ons to QGIS that provide additional functionality. Some are written by the
core QGIS development team and others are written by QGIS users.

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Chapter 1

You can explore the QGIS plugin ecosystem by navigating to Plugins | Manage and
Install Plugins. This opens the Plugins Manager window (shown in figure below)
that will allow you to browse all plugins, those that are installed, and those that are
not installed, and adjust the settings. If there are installed plugins with available
upgrades, there will also be an Upgradable option. The search bar can be used to
enter search terms and find available plugins related to the topic. This is the first
place to look if there's a tool or extra type of functionality that you need! To install a
plugin, simply select it and click on the Install Plugin button. Installed plugins can
be toggled on and off by checking the box next to each.
You will be notified by a link at the bottom of the QGIS Desktop application if there
are updates available for your installed plugins. Clicking on the link will open the
Plugins Manager window, where the Upgrades tab will allow you to install all
or some of the available updates. Plugins themselves may show up as individual
buttons, toolbars, or as items under the appropriate menu, such as Plugins, Vector,
Raster, Database, Web, or Processing.
To add a base map to QGIS, enable the OpenLayer plugin.
It appears under the Web menu and allows you to add
base maps from OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, Bing Maps,
Map Quest, OSM/Stamen, and Apple Maps. This plugin
requires an Internet connection.

You can also browse the QGIS Python Plugins Repository

at https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/.

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Summary
This chapter provided a refresher in the basics of Desktop and QGIS Browser. We
covered how to install the software on several platforms and described the layout
of both QGIS Desktop and QGIS Browser. We then covered how to load vector,
raster, and database data layers. Next, you were shown how to work with coordinate
reference systems and style data. We covered the basics of working with tables,
including how to perform a table join. The chapter concluded with a refresher on
composing maps and how to find, install, and manage plugins.
The next chapter will cover creating spatial databases. Data is the foundation of any
GIS. Now that you have had a refresher on the basics of QGIS, it is time to learn
how to expand your work to include spatial databases. In Chapter 2, Creating Spatial
Databases, you will learn how to create and manage spatial databases within QGIS.

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Get more information Mastering QGIS

Where to buy this book

You can buy Mastering QGIS from the Packt Publishing website.
Alternatively, you can buy the book from Amazon, BN.com, Computer Manuals and most internet
book retailers.
Click here for ordering and shipping details.

www.PacktPub.com

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